1. ,,
DAMADEIDesign and Advanced Materials As a Driver of European Innovation
Partners:
Happy Materials Materio,
Prague, Czech Republic
MaterFAD,
Barcelona, Spain
Danish Design Center,
Copenhagen, Denmark
How is a designer to keep abreast the latest
developments in material science and develop
a working familarity to a whole generation of
unfamiliar inventions?
3. 3
What to expect
An inclusive, but not exclusive
briefing on, for and from
the world of advanced materials,
designers, visionaries, creators, makers, doers,
written with numerous examples and
a comprehensive listing of major scientific and research players,
rare earth, wierd composites, interesting materials, even more curious applications, nano scale futures,
sustainable manufacturing, industrial designers, material enthusiasts, material collectors,
material manufacturers, material suppliers, material experts, material scientists, material technologists, product engineers and
material startup success stories for anyone
interested in any one of these to understand the barriers, challenges and key issues facing these actors in facilitating
the innovation in the invention they have already created.
4. 4
Foreword 7
Contributors 6
Acknowledgements 6
Executive Summary 8
section I
Partners, Objectives, Method
1 Introduction 13
1.1 Project Rationale 14
1.2 Objectives 16
1.2.1 Results 16
1.3 The Partners 17
1.3.1 Fostering Arts and Design (FAD), Spain 17
1.3.2 Happy Materials, Czech Republic 17
1.3.3 Danish Design Center, Denmark 17
2 Methodology & Approach 18
2.1 Research-in-depth 18
2.2 The Materialism Symposium and its Format 18
2.3 The Website & Collaborative Platform 20
2.4 Travelling Exhibition Materialism European Tour 21
section II
European Advanced Material sector
3 An introduction to Advanced Materials 24
3.1 What are Advanced Materials? 25
3.1.1 Active Materials 25
3.1.2 Advanced Composites 26
3.1.3 Advanced Manufacturing 28
3.1.4 Advanced Textiles & Fibers 29
3.1.5 Coatings 29
3.1.6 NanoTechnology 30
3.1.7 Gels & Foams 31
3.1.8 High Performance Polymers 31
3.1.9 Light Alloys 32
3.2 Materials and Materiality 34
3.3 Materials and a Design process 35
4 The European Advanced Materials Sector 37
4.1 Identifying key stakeholders 38
4.1.1 Suppliers / Raw Materials 38
4.1.2 Manufacturers 39
4.1.3 Research Centers 40
4.1.4 Technology Centers 43
4.1.5 Technology Transfer Facilitation 44
4.1.6 Licensing 45
4.2 Data and Materials : Its all about Material Selection 46
4.2.1 Effects Databases 46
4.2.2 Material Databases 47
4.2.3 Material Libraries 48
4.3 Technology Scouting: Choosing materials in a corporate 55
4.4 Trade fairs 56
4.5 Material Experts 57
4.6 How small Scientifc Step leads to a big Design Leap 58
section III
European Design sector
5 What is the Design Industry Landscape in Europe? 64
5.1 The New Role of Design Associations 65
Contents
5. 5
5.2 The Designer: a multifaceted role 66
5.3 Design Education 68
5.4 The value of Prototyping 70
5.5 The art of Making in the Innovation Process 71
5.5.1 Computational and Simulation Tools 72
5.6 When Designers design materials 74
5.7 Design Manufacturing 80
5.8 Materials in the Design Process 84
5.9 Sustainability and the Designer 88
5.9.1 Risks and Regulation in the use of Advanced Materials 89
5.10 The Innovation Grail: What eludes 90
section IV
Insights, Barriers, Needs, Trends
6 Analysis : How to read this section 97
6.1 SWOT Analysis on Advanced Materials Sector 98
SWOT Analysis on Design Sector 99
6.2 Key Barriers on the Advanced Materials Sector 100
Key Barriers on the Design Sector 101
6.3 Key Insights on the Advanced Materials Sector 102
Key Insights on the Design Sector 103
6.4 Key Needs of the Advanced Materials Sector 104
Key Needs of the Design Sector 105
6.5 Scientific community vs Design Community 106
6.6 Challenges in Commercialising 107
7 Emerging Trends (Bi Sector) 108
7.1 Democratic Materials 109
7.2 Democratic Manufacturing 112
7.3 Natures as inspiration, form and function 114
7.4 Technology, Materials & Region: Creation of an ecosystem 116
7.5 Note on Material use Facilitation as a consultancy Practice 118
section V
Best Practise Cases
8.1 Tretorn, SE 122
8.2 Cranial Loop, ES 124
8.3 Zieta,PL 126
8.4 Plastic Logic, UK 128
8.5 Sugru, UK 130
8.6 Termix, ES 132
8.7 Sensing Tex, ES 134
8.8 Gravelli, CZ 136
8.9 Dyecoo, NL 138
8.10 D3o, UK 140
section VI
Workshop and Exhibition: Actions and Results
9 Workshops 144
9.1 London 145
9.2 Copenhagen 148
9.3 Prague 152
9.4 Barcelona 156
9.5 Appendix 160
Workshop Participants 160
List of websites 164
List of videos 167
6. 6
Acknowledgements
DAMADEI Partners and their offices:
Fostering Arts and Design (FAD), Spain
Jordi Torrents, DAMADEI Project Manager
Materfad, Materials Centre – Barcelona, Spain
Valérie Bergeron, Architect, Materials Library
Manager
Aline Charransol, Workshop Coordinator
Javier Peña, Chemist, Scientific Director
Guillem Pericay, Graphic Designer
Iván Rodríguez, Materials Engineer
Cristina Serra, Graphic Designer
Josep Seuba, Technical Advisor
Pol Surinyach, Industrial Design Engineer
Javier del Toro, Industrial Design Engineer
Nicole Vindel, Industrial Design Engineer
Danish Design Centre – Copenhagen, Denmark
Maria Hørmann, Change Maker & Project Manager
Susanne Schenstrøm, Architect, Graphic Designer
Emma P. Borgström, Project Assistant
Danish Design Centre, Consultants
Erik Haastrup Müller, Founder, Futation
Priya Mani, Design Researcher
Chris Lefteri, Designer & Founder, Chris Lefteri
Design Ltd., UK
With many thanks to Chris Lefteri Design Studio
Gaia Crippa, Design Researcher
Fanny Nilsson, Chris Lefteri Design
Gemma Roper, Chris Lefteri Design
Happy Materials | matériO – Prague, Czech
Republic
Lucie Havlova, Chemist, Materials Expert and
Materials Library Supervisor
Tomas Hendrych, Artist and Materials Library
Supervisor
Ivana Vejrazkova, Chemist and Materials Library
Manager
Helena Pankova, Architect and Materials Consultant
Anna Berankova, Designer and Materials Consultant
Tereza Zelenkova, Project Assistant
DAMADEI workshops organised and
documented by
Maria Hørmann, Danish Design Centre, DK
Valérie Bergeron, Materfad, Fostering Arts
and Design (FAD), ES
Ivana Vejrazkova, Happy Materials, CZ
Chris Lefteri, Lefteri Design Studio, UK
Lucie Havlova, Happy Materials, CZ
Dr. Javier Peña, Materfad, Fostering Arts
and Design (FAD), ES
Please note that this Report is based on
the Material Families that were pre decided
by the Consortium Members and their
representatives from Danish Design Centre,
MaterFAD and Happy Materials.
Contributors
Research and writing by
Priya Mani, Design Researcher, unless mentioned otherwise.
Nille Juul Sørensen, CEO, Danish Design Centre, DK
David Cutcliffe, Design Site Leader, Alstom Transport, ES
Dr. Javier Peña, Scientific Manager, Materfad,
Fostering Arts and Design (FAD), ES
Mette Bak Andersen, Københavns Erhvervsakademi (KEA), DK
And to all those who spared time to be
interviewed for this project,
Aart Van Bezooyen, Material Stories, DE
Ales Gardian, Elmarco, CZ
Anders Kofoed, Green Machine, DK
Anthony Dodworth, Dodworth Design, UK
Cameron Smith, USA
Christian Grosen, DK
David Cutcliffe, Alstom, ES
Els Zijlstra, Materia, NL
Efrat Friedland, DesignAffairs, DE
Francesc Xavier Vilana, NEOS Surgery, ES
Hanne Jensen, Coloplast, DK
Helle Jensen, DuPont, DK
Ingrid Farré, Fundacio Alicia, ES
Jack Mama, Electrolux, SE
Jakob Brahe, Brahe Design, DK
Jan Buk, Kertak technologies, CZ
Jan Čmelik, Elmarco NanoTechnologies, CZ
Jiří Dudjak, Nanovia, CZ
Jiří Peters, Gravelli, CZ
Kristoffer Kelstrup, Moef, DK
Ladislav Eberl, Gravelli, DK
Laia Badal, Fundacio Alicia, ES
Marcela Munzarová, Nanovia, CZ
Marco Capellini, Matrec, IT
Martin Kopic, Elmarco NanoTechnologies, CZ
Mette Bak Andersen, KEA, DK
Miquel Ridao, Sensing Tex, ES
Morten Olsen, Actura NanoTech, DK
Pernille Singer, Coloplast, DK
Reinier Mommaal, NL
Sasha Peters, Haute Materials, DE
Salvador Llas Vargas, Neos Surgery, ES
Tomáš Fencl, Nanovia, CZ
Vanessa Carpenter, Geek Physical, DK
7. 7
Now when we are in the candy shop we have
to think about which materials we shall use and
how do we start using them.
As a designer we must start working very close
with the scientific world to find the right material
for the right purpose. It’s not just enough that I like
a material, its colour, its tactility or the shapes I can
make from it. It is about how can we produce the
material looking at a holistic production. Will the
material fit its purpose or can I do it in a smarter
way? How do I up-cycle the material after it has
been used for my purpose and what will the
lifespan of the material be?
We also have to access the knowledge on
materials from other industries so that creatives
can start making crossover materials and crossover
use of the materials. If the design and the scientific
world can find a way to explore the new intelligent
materials together in a close collaboration, then
we have a golden opportunity to answer some of
the many challenges we face in shaping our future.
I believe that we are running out of time in the
way we run Planet Earth and we have an urgency
to start forming our future. Material scientist and
designers need to focus on how we can start
replacing about 80% to 90% of the materials we
have around us today. It is not going to be a
quick fix but by starting the process today we
will be capable of making the transformation into
the ecological age. If we can come up with new
materials and new ways of using the already
invented materials, even going back to the old,
known materials but using them in new contexts,
we will have a chance to make a big effort in
shaping the future.
Foreword
by Nille Juul-Sørensen, CEO, Danish Design Center
We need to start shaping a future for ourselves
that can incorporate all the new technologies that
will come and a future in balance between the
environment and us. To me, materials will play a
crucial part in shaping this future. It is not just all
the new materials that are interesting but more
interesting is how the creative and the scientific
world can collaborate in transforming our future
so it will be a sustainable future on all levels and
a future where we have designed systems that will
be able to incorporate new technologies and new
materials. We must start designing a future where
materials forms objects that are responsible, user
friendly and sustainable on all levels.
As a designer and architect I have always been
very fascinated by materials because they play
such a big part in forming new ideas and solving
challenges in the creative process. In the building
process it is looking into more traditional materials
and how you could use them in a new and
surprising ways or how one could mix them in
new patterns. When entering the field of design
my eyes were opened to total new materials and
their production. I was amazed about how many
materials there were out there and how few I knew
about.I found materials that was invented 50 years
ago but was shelved due to extreme production
cost at the time they were invented and now
50 years later cost has come down so they can
be used.
Design also opened my eyes for all the new smart
or intelligent materials constantly being invented.
Some for a purpose and some because we just
can. One can say that it’s like walking into a candy
shop.
8. 8
We are entering a new era where products and experiences are going to be
shaped by invisible forces, complex science and new manufacturing methods.
The influence of nanotechnology are manifesting itself in a whole new range of
applications, even creating markets that don’t exist today. This is not just space
age stories but real down to earth applications in everyday life- a vehicle to the
moon, to the tools for brain surgeries, to the food we eat are all products of
advanced materials and processes. The DAMADEI report takes you on a journey
to meet the actors from the worlds of advanced materials and designers. It is an
attempt to understand the diverse world of materials at different levels.
Mapping the advanced materials sector and the design sector is a big task. As a
start, the report has taken on this onerous task to systematically introduce the
players and mechanisms of both worlds to each other. A good level of familiarity
with the actors and acknowledging their role and contribution to the big picture
is the first step to collaboration. The categories are large, and in many instances
the actors are not singular in their role. For example a raw material supplier could
also have large research activities and be a manufacturer. Likewise, a designer
could provide the design and be the producer of his own design assuming
responsibility for the context relevance and sustainability of his product idea.
Yet, this mapping gives a clear idea of the value chains. This knowledge is vital
as intervention and collaboration at different stages can lead to a broad spectrum
of innovations, from incremental to radical.
The report then moves on to discuss with vivid examples instances where the
scientific world has brought research to the real world and designers have been
the unsung heroes of that translation and more instances where designers have
seeked with enough scientific enquiry and curiosity to realise their ideas with the
use of very advanced materials.
The report explores in great detail the role of material libraries and material
experts in facilitating knowledge transfer, lateral thinking in both industry sectors
and eventually creating the cross pollination that is the need of the hour to
accelerate the innovation process. Many leading libraries have been profiled to
explain their services, value offerings and material focus.
The advanced materials sector has been presented with all the various
stakeholders in this system, from fundamental researchers to product engineers
and material scientists explaining their role in the industry and how interaction of
a designer with each of these actors can help foster innovation. Numerous
examples have been cited at every instance to demonstrate the idea that putting
science into context is imperative for research to capture value in innovation.
Executive Summary
9. 9
The design sector has been explained as the ecosystem around the creators- the
designers. Their involvement from idea to execution has been outlined indicating
how access to new knowledge and possibilities can accelerate innovation. Many
designers are at the forefront of this new wave of design led technological
innovations. Yet the effect needs to spread widely in the community to combat the
apprehensions of working with advanced technologies.
The mapping and analysis of the advanced materials and design sectors has been
done across industry sectors and materials families to further demonstrate the
holistic nature of its application and influence.
A detailed analysis clearly indicates that while knowledge is prime in the advanced
materials sector, the consecutive protection of this know-how is fuelled by singular
pursuits. The sector’s access to research funds and knowledge gives them the
advantage of being at the forefront of innovation. Technology in the digital age is
fast paced as never before giving science and technology research a momentum to
tailor properties of materials and engage in a collaboration to customise science
for practical applications. Yet, bringing scientific knowledge into commercial
application needs many stakeholders and the advanced research world seldom
moves over sectors to find the right partners and the unspoken bureaucracy of
knowledge, information and alliances means that scientific research remains
creatively untapped. There are opportunities to create early alliances between
material suppliers and manufacturers with designers to incubate radical
technology-led design ideas and startups that need support from product makers
or themselves creating front end products which can help this sector have more
intellectual control over market tendencies.
While designers have an innate understanding of user behaviour, socio-cultural
factors and their interaction with product semantics and product systems,
designers can trigger scientific enquiry in very naive and fundamentally different
ways. They can develop an intuitive way to work with advanced materials because
of their own iterative, empirical way of working with fabrication and materials. Yet,
the design community does not have direct access to scientific information,
research findings and experiments still at the lab stage. The lack of funds
dedicated to foster this alliance makes it tough to enter the scientific world without
a concrete commercial proposal. Designers have different education backgrounds
but an affinity to formal aspects but the difference in their aptitude for science can
mean they have difficulty working with the scientifically abstract. There is an
opportunity to create early alliances between designers and material suppliers,
and manufacturers to incubate radical design-led technology ideas and startups to
use advanced materials in design to be a huge product and feature differentiator
to capture new markets.
13. 13
The DAMADEI report is a culmination of insights
from 10 months of research, travel, interviews,
workshops and the Materialism travelling
exhibition. It must be read at various planes – for
the most basic part, the report is a map of all the
stakeholders in the advanced materials industry
and the design industry explaining the nuances
and mechanisms at play in these sectors.
For the curious designer who would like to know
all about what scientists do, Section 2 is a wealth
of information. Dr. Javier Peña, Scientific Manager,
Materfad (FAD) offers an overview of advanced
material families chosen for this project to
demonstrate their size and pervasiveness. The
stakeholders of this sector from raw material
suppliers to manufacturers, research centers,
technology centers, technology transfer centers,
material libraries and technology scouts have
been introduced providing fair insights into their
role, contributions and collaboration touchpoints.
The mechanisms of licensing, patents, material
selection, role of databases and trade fairs are also
discussed here.
For the scientific world that has long been trying to
fathom creative chaos, the mechanisms of a
design process are laid bare in Section 3, as
designers are introduced alongside their
approach to prototyping, use of computational
and simulation tools, design manufacturing,
concerns of sustainability and eventually deep
knowledge of how materials fare in use. David
Cutcliffe, Design Site Leader at Alstom Transport in
Barcelona has written a prolific overview of how
designers use materials in the train transport
industry citing examples from his work and those
of his peers. Mette Bak Andersen, a design
educator at the Københavns Erhvervsakademi
(KEA), Denmark has written about the challenges
of staying at the forefront of inventions as a design
student and the future she foresees with setting up
a materials library in the design school.
Reading the report from Section 4 could be very
valid for anyone who has worked at the
intersection of design and technology and faced
real situations of forging a collaboration between
the two worlds.
Introduction
This section presents the key findings of the
project and key barriers and challenges in
commercialising that is dogging the industries.
This section is the essence of this enquiry in a
nutshell for those working with systemic agendas
such as policy makers, educators and industry
facilitators.
Section 4 also introduces the emerging trends of
democratic making of materials and democratic
manufacturing with a huge do-it-yourself
approach to this subject. New ecosystems of
material based startups are springing around
Europe and a surge of interest in materials has
made advice on materials a specialised
consultancy practice.
10 best practice cases have been selected from
around Europe to demonstrate different things-
the importance of lateral thinking in radical
innovation with the Tretorn Ball, the agility of a
design process in designing the Cranial Loop, the
power of imagination and play with Zieta’s inflated
steel pipes, the endless iterations science offers
with the Plastic Logic’s organic electronics, the
persistence of a designer’s pursuit to push
scientific boundaries with Sugru, the real world
match making possibilities offered by material
libraries with Termix’s hair brushes, the eventual
commercialisation of fragile embedded
technologies in smart textiles with Sensing Tex,
creative manufacturing with LiCrete and finally the
big impact DyeCoo will have on this world with
the commercialisation of its waterless dyeing
techniques.
Numerous examples and references have been
cited wherever possible to inspire the reader to go
online and read more. A comprehensive list of the
websites of all institutes, companies, products and
technologies mentioned in the report is available
in the Appendix. All materials and technologies
mentioned in this report have also been annotated
with video links listed in the Appendix as we truly
believe the magic of technology is best seen to be
believed.
The report contains a documentation of all
the workshops and material exhibition tours
conducted as part of the DAMADEI Project as well.
1
14. 14
The European Commission has recently published
the European Competitiveness Report 2010.
Recovering from a severe recession, the report
identifies the main future determinants of EU
competitiveness on world markets. One of these
determinants is the creative industries sector,
which is among the fastest growing sectors in the
EU creating new jobs, playing key roles in global
value chains and spurring innovation.
According to the 2006 KEA European Affairs
report on The Economy of Culture in Europe,
commissioned by the European Commission, the
cultural and creative sectors in Europe generated
a turnover of approximately €650 billion,
contributed to 2.6% of EU GDP in 2003 and
grew 12.3% more than the general economy
from 1999 to 2003. They employed approximately
4.7 million people, equivalent to 2.5% of the
active employed population in EU-25.
For the design sector specifically, the lack of a
commonly agreed definition and of available data
make comparisons between countries difficult.
Tentative estimates put the number of designers
in Europe at 410 000. These create a total turnover
of €36 billion, which represents slightly more
than 5% of the knowledge-intensive service sector
in the EU. The aforesaid report demonstrates that
creative industries have a recognized important
and transformative role in the EU’s economy.
It shows that creative industries are the main
drivers of innovation and encompass an even
bigger potential. To unlock this potential, the
main barriers which this sector is facing should be
tackled through regional, national and EU policies.
Other sources of growth detected at the
European Competitiveness Report 2010 are
the Key Enabling Technologies (KET). KETs are
knowledge-intensive and associated with high
R&D intensity, rapid innovation cycles, high capital
expenditure and highly-skilled employment. They
enable process, goods and service innovation
throughout the economy and are of systemic
relevance.
They are multidisciplinary, cutting across many
technology areas with a trend towards
convergence and integration. Among the KETs,
Advanced Materials have a current market size of
€74 bn and they are essential for the further
development of many other KETs, in particular
nanotechnology, micro and nanoelectronics
including semiconductors, and photonics.
One of the main barriers for the development of
potential applications of the KETs is the fact that
the R&D efforts are driven by technological
opportunities rather than likely preferences of
users. With its potential to make products and
1.1 Project rationale
services user-friendly and appealing, design
‘closes the innovation loop’ from initial research
to commercially viable innovations and, as such,
has the potential to increase efficiency of overall
R&D and innovation spending.
As design activity puts the user at the centre,
design-driven innovation is different from the
traditional linear, science or technology-driven
model of innovation. In this particular matter,
the 2007 Innobarometer survey of innovative
companies across the EU found that over a quarter
(27%) considered that design staff had been a
major source of ideas for their innovative activities,
slightly ahead of research staff (25%). This figure
was above 40% in some countries (Belgium,
Greece, Ireland, Finland), and in high and
medium-tech sectors. One perspective on the
relationship between design, innovation and
competitiveness is to consider that design acts
as bridge between science, technology and the
user by putting the user in the centre. The role
of design is to strengthen the communication
between the different parts of the innovation
process – for example between R&D and
production, R&D and marketing, to turn ideas
and technological inventions into products
and services, and make innovative products
commercially acceptable, user-friendly and
appealing. In this sense, design is a tool for
innovation in new or emerging markets where
user-friendly and appealing design is a must
to create or enter the market.
A Commission Staff Working Document, Design
as a driver of user-centred innovation, identifies
several barriers to better use of design as a tool
for innovation in Europe:
• Barriers to the use of design in companies,
mainly in SMEs;
• Barriers to growth of design businesses;
Barriers in education, training and research.
In particular, the lack of awareness and experience
and the lack of knowledge of how and where
to turn for specialised help; are often mentioned
as barriers for the use of design in companies.
As regards to the education and training
barriers, the challenge is the lack of designers
with the right skills and experience in view of
recent developments in the area of design, such
as strategic user-centred design, eco-design,
‘design for all’, design management and
computer-aided design.
Design consultants who lack for example basic
business and management skills may have
difficulties convincing industrial clients. In-house
designers without these skills may not be capable
15. 15
of building bridges between the technical and
commercial departments. Similarly, designers
without entrepreneurial skills may find it difficult
to start and grow their own business. These issues
need to be tackled through education that better
integrates design with management, basic
business and entrepreneurship.
Finally, the lack of knowledge about the potential
use of the advanced materials in designing new
products becomes a serious obstacle for the
development of the new products taking
advantage of these high-end technologies.
Thus, several recent reports demonstrate that
creative industries have a recognized important
and transformative role in the EU‘s economy.
Creative industries are often defined as the main
drivers of innovation and encompass an even
bigger potential. In this regard, design is a
powerful tool for innovation in new or emerging
markets where user-friendly and appealing design
is a must to create or enter the market. However,
there are still some barriers obstructing the full
development of such potential. One of the main
remaining barriers is the lack of knowledge about
the potential use of advanced materials in
designing new products.
The DAMADEI Project seeks to raise awareness among designers and to
provide them with the appropriate experience on how to take advantage of
these huge opportunities regarding advanced materials. In this way, design
will be able to unlock its full potential as a driver of innovation and European
competitiveness.
16. 16
To consolidate a long-term collaborative European infrastructure
to enhance the current network of partners through the involvement
of the main European design sector and advanced materials
stakeholders.
To identify the needs, barriers and common areas of application
of both sectors as well as to develop the potential interaction of
Design and Advanced Materials as drivers of European innovation.
To hold 4 Workshops (London, Barcelona, Prague, and Copenhagen)
to stimulate creative processes by exchanging European best
practices in design through the application of advanced materials.
To develop and implement a far-reaching communication plan
of the results.
1.2.1 Results
Creation of a permanent networkof European design and advanced
materials stakeholders.
Mappingof the European Design and Advanced Materials sectors.
In-depth researchinto the interactions between Design and Advanced
Materials.
Identification of European best practicesfor these interactions.
4 innovative workshopson design & advanced materials in London,
Copenhagen, Prague and Barcelona, including an exhibition of advanced materials.
Creation of a collaborative platformas an online meeting
point for Design and Advanced Materials.
Publicationof the main conclusion of the project.
Staging of a final dissemination event coinciding with
Barcelona’s FADFest.
1.2 Objectives
17. 17
1.3 The Partners
1.3.1 Fostering Arts and Design (FAD),
Materfad, Materials Centre, Barcelona, Spain
www.fad.cat, www.materfad.com
encourage the world of enterprise to incorporate
design through numerous activities and projects.
Materfad, is one of them. The Barcelona Materials
Centre, together with their affiliated centers in
Mexico, Colombia and Chile, results from the
increasing role played by materials in the
development of our society. Materfad’s objective
is to give visibility to the agents producing
innovative or singular materials and to efficiently
guide designers in order to thus foster the transfer
of knowledge.
Materfad was represented by Valérie Bergeron in
the DAMADEI Project.
HM was established in 2004 in Prague and its
main aim is to explore and bring information about
new materials to the Czech market. HM provides
information about innovative materials through
seminars, exhibitions and publishing vocational
articles and books. HM owns a materials library
which has been transferred from matériO Paris
in 2010, an independent information centre
on materials and innovative products. This
cooperation enables Happy Materials to have
the latest information about new materials and
to use the knowledge in educating creative
industry members in the Czech Republic.
Happy Materials was represented by Ivana
Vejrazkova in the DAMADEI Project.
The Danish Design Centre is an independent,
government-funded organization established
in 1978. DDC’s focus in relation to the design
community and business sector is on collecting,
communicating and testing knowledge about the
main factors that influence design and how design
can continue to be a driver for innovation and
growth in the future. The DDC is working with
these topics in close cooperation with designers,
partners, sponsors, businesses and audiences
both nationally and internationally. The aim is to
strengthen soci ety’s capacity through design
and – in a contemporary way – to carry on,
enhance and renew the Danish design tradition.
The DDC’s mantra is ‘design that makes sense’,
and its key knowledge areas are new materials,
new technology, and big data.
The Danish Design Center was represented
by Maria Hørmann in the DAMADEI Project.
(logo)
The FAD is a private, independent and
not-for-profit association that has the objective
of promoting design and architecture in the
country’s cultural, economic and social spheres.
It is articulated through different associations
that represent the various disciplines of design:
ADI-FAD industrial design – ADG-FAD graphic
design and visual communication – ARQUIN-FAD
architecture and interior design – A-FAD art,
handicrafts – MODA-FAD image and fashion.
Founded in 1903, it has become the first centre
of reference for design and architecture in Spain
thanks to its constant work in promoting creative
culture through exhibitions, professional talks,
prizes and events. The FAD creates incentives to
1.3.2 Happy Materials (HM),
Prague, Czech Republic
www.happymaterials.com
1.3.3 Danish Design Centre (DDC),
Copenhagen, Denmark
www.ddc.dk
18. Pic 1 Partcipants facebook from the London
workshop,
Pic 2 Participants facebook from the Cph
workshop,
Pic 3 Participants facebook from the Barcelona
workshop,
Pic 4 Participants facebook from the Prague
workshop
18
From the onset, the collaborators of the project
were passionate about materials, they were
passionate about design and were unanimous that
they wanted to create a platform and knowledge
pool that could bring the two together and stay
alive, active and usable by the community long
after the project was over.
Much has been written about advanced materials
and smart materials for designers and the effort
has been fantastic in creating an awareness in
the creative community. Material libraries and
their outreach efforts to connect suppliers and
facilitators of creative projects have also instigated
much curiosity in the creative community but
keeping them up-to-date with the latest, most
innovative materials is a difficult task. The effort
needed to constantly update libraries is not
unknown. Both books and online libraries have
limitations of visibility, consistent relevance and
committed users. This was the pretext to plan the
activities of the project like the creation of a
visual repository of stakeholders from suppliers
of materials to designers working with them,
and an in-depth research into the two sectors to
understand the challenges they face in innovating.
The key activities of the project are outlined here.
Methodology & Approach
2.1 The Research-in-Depth
An in-depth research has been conducted as an
effort to assimilate industry trends and understand
the core issues that the stakeholders face. Different
stakeholders have been interviewed across Europe,
and have been visited at their facilities to understand
what goes into the making and manufacturing of
advanced materials – from research labs to large
factories, and taking the same investigations forward
with designers who tinker around with new materials
to make futuristic usables and design manufacturers
who strive to make this a commercial reality. The
findings, insights and analysis has been presented
in Section 4 of this Report.
Read more on Pg 95
2.2 The Materialism Symposium and its Format
As part of the dissemination efforts of the DAMADEI
Project, the project partners organised a symposium
and an exhibition of more than 40 advanced materials
at their headquarters. A specific theme was chosen
relevant to a strong industry cluster of the hosting
partner. The symposiums were conducted in London,
Copenhagen, Prague and Barcelona. The symposiums
organised during the DAMADEI Project brought
together the creative industry and the technologists,
creating a dialogue and intense brainstorming
sessions putting focus on future applications
of advanced materials.
About 45 participants representing different
areas such as research, design, industry, start-ups,
education, architecture and the creative underground
were invited at each workshop. Each symposium had
a theme and the experts, speakers and participants
were chosen in that context.
The day included short presentations from national
and international presenters on advanced materials
and design. The core of the day was ideas for future
solutions in intense Sketcha Kutcha sessions.
A selection of 4 advanced materials was used
at the Sketcha Kutcha workshop as inspiration
to visualise future applications. The output from
the day was 20 ideas on solutions, services and
products based on the materials and the theme.
The 20 ideas were part of a traveling exhibition
that followed the Symposiums in Europe. The
exhibition is called Materialism European Tour
showcasing 40 advanced materials.
Read more on Pg. 144
2
19. The workshops created much synergy and
dialogue between industry stakeholders in both
sectors. Tomas Hendrych of Happy Materials
at the DAMADEI Symposium in Prague talking
about stabilised Aluminium foam from AlusionTM
.
The materials on display at the Materialism tour
in Copenhagen, where visitors could touch, feel
and interact with them. They were tagged with
QR codes so that all information about them
were instantly available online.
19
1
2
20. 20
In the wake of creating something that will be
usable by the broad creative community beyond
the days of this project came the idea for creating
an online platform to map the various actors in the
two sectors – suppliers, manufacturers, designers
and technology centers. All the partners worked
to support the idea of populating the platform in
the early phase of the project. This way, around
2.3 The Website and Collaborative Platform
150 local stakeholders were mapped on to the
platform. The platform provides this information
in a very visual, interactive way and is searchable
by material, region, and categories like suppliers,
technology centers, connecting centers,
manufacturers and designers. The platform can
be accessed at www.damadei.eu
The DAMADEI platform is a database of connecting centers, technology centers,
research centers, suppliers, designers and manufacturers of advanced materials.
21. 21
More than 40 material samples were chosen for
the traveling exhibition. Some were displayed
in their raw material stage, some as industrial
swatches. It also included products using an
advanced material or produced using advanced
manufacturing.
2.4 The Travelling exhibition: Materialism
European Tour
Four materials were chosen locally by each
partner, giving the tour an anchor to its host.
The DAMADEI exhibition in Barcelona was located at the FAD headquarters and was
open to all visitors to the venue thus reaching a very diverse design audience.
3
23. 23
section II
European context of the Advanced
Materials sector
The Pecha Kucha Sessions with advanced materials
at each Symposium resulted in 80 idea cards that
were a part of the exhibition.
24. 24
Materials is a very inclusive term, since it is
the basic building block of all physical products.
Materials are typically broken down into five
groups: metals, polymers (thermoplastics and
thermosets), ceramics, glasses and composites.
This delineation offers insights into likely
applications, since these materials have very
different atomic and structural properties leading
to very different properties and suitability for
different applications and purposes.
The most common ways in which materials are
categorized are: by industry (based on the
requirements of a specific industry), by application
(such as pressure vessels), or by a material
subgroup. In the case of industry, examples of
categories are: medical materials (compatibility
with human body), electronic materials (focus
is on electronic and optical properties), and
aerospace materials (focus is on low weight
and characteristics that limit the likelihood
of catastrophic failure).1
Advanced materials can be defined in numerous
ways; the broadest definition is to refer to all
materials that represent advances over the
traditional materials that have been used for
hundreds or even thousands of years. From this
perspective advanced materials refer to all new
materials and modifications to existing materials
to obtain superior performance in one or more
characteristics that are critical for the application
under consideration.
A more insightful and focused approach to
advanced materials is to consider materials that
are early in their product and/or technology life-
cycle. In other words, there is significant room
for growth in terms of the improvement of the
performance characteristics (technology lifecycle)
and their sales volume (product lifecycle). The
latter definition is what will be focused on here.
A detailed explanation is offered by Dr.Javier Peña
on the material families chosen for DAMADEI
as an industry to demonstrate their size and
pervasiveness.
An introduction to
Advanced Materials
1
See for example: ASM Handbooks, ASM International, Metals Park, Ohio.
3
25. 25
3.1 What are Advanced Materials?
by Dr. Javier Peña, Chemist, Scientific director Materfad Materials Center
Active materials present intrinsic or embedded
‘actuators’ that respond to such stimuli.
They present response control and selection
mechanisms, to control the response in a
predetermined way. Their response time is short
and the system returns to its original state as soon
as stimulus ceases. These materials may be used in
the design and development of sensors, actuators
and multifunctional products and may even
configure smart structures and systems that, with
a combination of materials, are capable of
self-diagnosing and modifying themselves to
adapt to the conditions that have been set as
optimal or correct for them.
3.1.1 Active Materials
Active materials, also called smart, multifunctional
or adaptive materials, are capable of modifying
in a reversible and controllable manner any one
of their particular properties whenever external
physical or chemical stimuli operate on them.
These materials have the capacity to change their
colour, shape or viscosity, generate electricity,
etc. in response to changes or alterations in the
medium (light, sound, temperature, voltage).
The simplest classification of these types of
materials is:
Materials with shape memory
- Alloys with shape memory
- Polymers with shape memory
- Ceramics with shape memory
- Ferromagnetic alloys with shape memory
Electro active and magneto active materials
- Electro- and magneto-rheological materials
- Piezoelectric and thermoelectric materials
- Electro- and magnetostrictive materials
Phase-change materials
Photoactive materials
- Electroluminescent
- Fluorescent
- Phosphorescent
Chromo active materials
- Photochromic
- Thermochromic
- Electrochromic
There is currently no consensus on nomenclature,
but there is an agreement on certain criteria or
traits that they have, whether intrinsically present
or in an embedded manner, and that they contain
recognition and intensity-measuring sensors of the
intensity of stimulus under which the material will
react.
An advanced material is any material that,
through the precise control of its composition
and internal structure, features a series of
exceptional properties (mechanical, electric,
optic, magnetic, etc) or functionalities (self-
repairing, shape change, decontamination,
transformation of energy, etc) that differentiate
it from the rest of the universe of materials; or
one that, when transformed through advanced
manufacturing techniques, features these
properties or functionalities.
They are undoubtedly one of the most interesting
technological activities within the industry owing
to the wide spectrum of disciplines in which they
can be applied, such as: electromagnetic
protection, conductive fabrics, generation of
chemical and biological responses and new
mechanical, acoustic, thermal, electrical and
optical properties that are required from these
materials in order to be able to meet the possible
needs of the population. They represent, the latest
generation of mechanisms that blur the boundary
between material and machine, as it is the material
itself that exercises activity after a training process
(education-teaching): they somehow come a little
closer to the laws of life.
Nitinol springs produced by Euroflex GmBH are
available also in many other forms like tubes,
wires, sheet metal etc. Credit: Pablo Axpe
4
26. 26
5
3.1.2 Advanced Composites
Composite materials have traditionally been
defined in many ways, based on different ideas
and concepts required for identifying and
classifying them.
However it is necessary to limit this concept to
aspects associated with its structure, manufacture
and behavior – the basic aspects that make them
different from the rest of monolithic or
conventional materials. On the basis of these
concepts, we can define a composite material
having one of the following features:
• It is manufactured artificially (thus excluding
any natural materials such as wood), mixing the
components in such a way that the dispersion
of one material into another may be undertaken
in a controlled manner to attain an optimal set
of properties.
• It has two or more physically and/or chemically
different phases or constituent parts, which are
non-inter soluble and appropriately arranged
and separated by a defined inter-phase.
• Its properties are uniquely superior in a specific
aspect and cannot be attained by its consti-
tuent components separately.
The development of composite materials is
currently conditioned by several challenges
such as:
• Reduction of manufacturing costs and increase
in the production of the constituent parts of the
composite materials. Carbon fibers, is a clear
example of high-performance reinforcement
whose penetration in high-consumption sectors
(for example, automotive) is limited, among
other reasons, by the high price of the fibers.
• Adaptation of automated manufacturing
technologies to other industries, such as the
development of new curing techniques outside
autoclaves or bonding, can expand the spec-
trum of use of composite materials in other
fields. Automation of the manufacturing
Lineo’s flax fiber composites mixed with
coventional material such as carbon or glass
fiber improves significantly the damping
properties of the material while ensuring good
mechanical properties.
Credit: Pablo Axpe.
The Harbin Hafei Airbus Composite Manufacturing
Centre features highly advanced equipment and
technology, including automated-tape-laying,
autoclave, automated trimming and non-
destructive test equipment.
Source: www.airbus.com
27. 27
However, there are some new trends in the
research and development of new composites
like new manufacturing techniques of composite
materials with inorganic matrixes (metallic and
ceramic), make it more economical and
productive. The separate manufacture of fibers
and matrices, which are then combined to obtain
a composite material with a metallic or ceramic
matrix, is not the only technique. Today there are
many research centers studying in-situ production
of resistant fibers in matrixes as a more viable
manufacturing method for this kind of material.
The development and application of new fibers
of biological origin, both animal (e.g spider web)
and vegetable (cellulosic) are another alternative
for the production of more resistant materials that
are also more compatible with the environment.
Incorporation of nano-reinforcements
for developing nanostructured composite
materials. The development of different types
of nanostructures like nanoparticles, nano-films
etc. in recent years has opened up a new field
of nano-composites manufacture for developing
composite materials.
Their advantage lies in the small size of their
reinforcements (tens of nanometers), and that
means greater effectiveness as it increases its
specific surface and reduces the effective distance
between reinforcements. There is immense
interest in employing carbon nanotubes, carbon
nanofibers and graphene, all characterized by
their high mechanical and electrical properties,
which are superior to carbon fibers by several
orders of magnitude.
processes with composite materials reduces
the costs of manufacturing composite material
structures and has been successfully tackled
by industries that manufacture large structures
with composites, such as the aeronautics
industry. Projects such as the Airbus 380 would
not have been possible without the fine-tuning
of manufacturing technologies such as auto-
mated tape laying (ATL) or fiber positioning (FP).
• High standards of inspection and testing with
new non-destructive testing techniques all
pieces manufactured with this type of material,
not just at the time of production but also after
certain service cycles, imposed by certain
industries such as aeronautics, demands the
development and fine-tuning of more efficient
inspection systems. A new class of composites
that is still in the research phase, called smart
composites, include sensors (for e.g. fiber
optics) are capable of detecting the presence
of defects or deformations in the structure and
monitoring the system’s structural integrity
(Structural Health Monitoring).
• The need for complete recyclability of
composites has opened up the need to
research and develop effective techniques for
recovering, recycling and reusing structures
manufactured with composite material.
Today, the separation and reuse of composites’
components (matrixes and reinforcements)
is an unsolved topic that requires considerable
research effort.
Airbus applies a full range of materials in its
aircraft, including optimised metallic alloys,
along with the increasing use of composites.
Source: www.airbus.com
28. Flexible bracelet 3D-printed with PLA by Ultra-Lab.
www.ultra-lab.net.
Credit: Pablo Axpe.
Fab Clay explores 3D printed architecture in
clay. Material samples are made by hacking an
industrial CNC Mill with a customized, arduino-
controlled deposition head for paste-like materials.
Attached to an industrial robot, the head is used to
print full-size architectural columns.
www.fabclay.com
The 3Doodler is the world’s first 3D printing pen
which is commercially available and has an active
user platform.
www.the3doodler.com
7
6
28
Shaping technologies, which use pre-shapes to
obtain the required geometry such as plastic and
metal injection, PIM, sintering, vacuum casting,
RIM, electroforming, etc.
Subtractive technologies, which obtain the
required geometry by subtracting material from
a larger geometry such as mechanizing, electro-
erosion, waterjet cutting, laser cutting, etc.
Additive technologies (AM) which obtain the
geometry by adding material through virtual
geometry, without the use of pre-shapes and
without subtracting material
The principal characteristics that distinguish the
manufacturing process of solids through addition
of layers of material (AM) from any other industrial
manufacturing process, providing them with huge
competitive advantages are that the geometric
complexity that has to be achieved does not
increase the cost of the process and customization
does not increase the cost of the process
3.1.3 Advanced Manufacturing
Today, the manufacturing processes of parts,
although assisted by the most advanced controls,
are still basically conventional: chipping, cold- or
hot-forming, casting or injection. All of them face
limitations such as the impossibility of curved
drilling, collisions of tools with a part of complex
geometry, restrictions in mold release angles to
give just some examples. It is a barrier in the
development of high value products with new
functionalities.
In the last quarter of the 20th century,
technologies like Additive Manufacturing have
emerged, with the advantage of all knowledge
developed in the digital era to overcome such
limitations. We can now manufacture through
controlled deposition of material, layer by layer,
putting down exclusively where it is needed to
achieve the final sought-after geometry instead of
stripping the material (mechanization, die-cutting,
etc); or shaping with the help of tools and molds
(casting, injection, folding, etc).
We can thus classify the manufacturing processes
of parts in the following way:
29. Basalt fabrics from Basaltex made from basalt
fibre has better physicomechanical properties and
is significantly cheaper than carbon fiber. Basalt
roving can be used to make composites.
Credit: Pablo Axpe
www.basaltex.com
GRAnPH®
Nanotech’s graphene oxide provides
superior quality graphene products for high tech
applications, as well as other carbon based
nanostructures and nanocomposites.
www.granphnanotech.com
3D mesh is a laminate product consisting of
a fabric side, a thin padding, and a mesh and
is used as a spacer.
Source: www.made-in-china.com
29
3.1.4 Advanced Textiles & Fibers
In recent years, technical fabrics have undergone
major development and offer many possibilities
for innovation to create high value products by
offering new applications.
3D fabrics with a possible application in vehicle
interiors can be manufactured in a wide range of
thickness, hardness, elasticity, with the advantage
of being recyclable and can feature characteristics
that are very similar to the polyurethane foam
currently being used.
Until recently this kind of sandwich structure was
achieved by bonding polyurethane foam (PUR)
to a variety of fabrics for the external layers. The
development of 3D fabrics means that obtaining
these sandwich fabrics is considerably simplified.
Currently, non-woven fabrics made by a
mechanical punching technique or by means of
needles are the most widely manufactured ones,
as they have found many possibilities in the
replacement of conventional fabrics. However,
producing nanofiber through electrospinning is
gaining importance.
Electrospinning is defined as a technique that
allows us to obtain fibers from molten or solution
polymer with an average diameter in the range
of 50 nm to 5 µm. There are studies in which
electrospinning is used that have achieved
composite nanoparticle materials in nanofibers
or coaxial nanofibers. Recently a new method
has been developed to facilitate the production
of nanofibers called electrospinning based on
polymer solutions or molten polymer.
Read more on Pg. 116
3.1.5 Coatings
Coatings play a prominent role in the materials
industry at this time. They are capable of
transforming and/or modifying the functionality
of a material through its surface, and in general
with a metric economy that is worthy of note.
Nano-coatings are opening up new applications
that are efficiently acting first-hand on the
functionality of the material and the associated
product. In this regard, nano-coatings are
solid-liquid coatings comprised of extremely small
particles that possess extraordinary characteristics
such as: high flexibility, easy adherence, resistance
to corrosion and microbial flora in addition to
providing solutions for improving our
environment:
30. 30
• They save water by dispensing with excess
cleaning.
• They provide protection and greater durability
for materials, preventing their early breakdown,
premature oxidation and molecular damage
caused by harmful living microorganisms such
as microbes, bacteria and viruses.
For environmental applications we also have
special products for:
• Cleaning the air of polluting greenhouse-effect
particles.
• Accumulating water in the root area of plants,
trees and all vegetation, allowing them to make
wbetter use of nutrients and of this vital liquid.
Commercial examples of these nano-coatings
are for anti-graffiti, anti-corrosion, fire-resistant,
anti-fungal, anti-friction, anti-grease and oils,
anti-bacterial, self-cleaning, dry lubricants,
self-releasing, polishing, photocatalytic applications.
3.1.6 NanoTechnology
Nanotechnology refers to a comprehensive field
of applied science and technology whose unifying
theme is the control of matter at molecular level,
which is smaller than a micrometer, normally on
scales of 1 to 100 nanometers. It includes the
manufacture of devices on a nano-scale. It is a
highly multidisciplinary field seen across applied
physics, material science, colloidal science, the
physics of devices, supra-molecular chemistry and
electromechanical engineering. Nanotechnology
can be considered as an extension of sciences on
a nano-scale. Two main approaches are used in
nanotechnology. One of them is bottom-up,
where materials and devices are built from
molecular components.
Carbon nanotube was the pioneering material in
this technology and today graphene is the most
researched for applications. Carbon nanotubes
are based on cylindrical nanostructures made
from carbon atoms. It is renowned for its unusual
resistance and capacity to conduct heat and
electricity. Graphene, in turn, is transparent,
flexible, extraordinarily resistant, impermeable,
abundant, economical and conducts electricity
better than any other known metal. This material
permits manufacturing of electronic devices with
flexible and transparent screens and ultra-rapid
P2i employs a plasma enhanced vapor deposition
process to lower the surface energy of products
which renders the surface with unique properties.
8
31. 31
It acts as a thermal insulator in earthed insulation,
refrigerators, thermos flasks, coatings for pipes
and acoustic soundproofing in civil works and
constructions and has good impact-absorbing
properties.
There are currently three crucial lines in the sector:
The development of foams from recycled material
and/or the recycling of polymer foams, such as
polyurethane and polystyrene.
The development of metallic foams made from
aluminum, steel, lead and other metals with
remarkable characteristics such as high stiffness,
high resistance to compression and much lower
density than non-foamed metal.
The development of ceramic foams with density
control.
Some of the commonly seen applications are
thermal and acoustic insulation, energy
absorption systems, filling of metallic structures
or sandwich panels in lightweight structures
and development of ceramic foams with density
control.
3.1.8 High-Performance Polymers
Modification and reinforcement of compostable,
degradable and/or conventional polymers (or a
mixture of them) with bio-fibers and/or nano-
charges can result in materials with very advanced
properties for innovative applications.
Traditionally, the use of charges with polymers has
had the purpose of reducing the product’s cost
and of improving its physical-chemical properties.
Charges are normally small particles, short fibers,
organic or inorganic materials. The main
advantages of using organic fibers to reinforce
batteries, powerful solar panels, applications
in aeronautics, medicine etc. Nanotechnology
is an excellent base for creating new materials,
according to specific needs. It is also a source of
inspiration for other two-dimensional materials
such as fluorographene, a two-dimensional analog
of TeflonTM
with extraordinary lubricating and
insulating properties, hexagonal boron nitride,
a very hard crystalline and transparent insulator
that combined with graphene improves its
electromechanical properties, molybdenum
disulfide, another two-dimensional crystal with
promising properties for the construction of
a new class of transistors or silicene, a version
of graphene made from silicon that can be easily
integrated with current silicon-based electronics.
3.1.7 Gels & Foams
d3O is a non-newtonian material which can flow
in a stable state but achieves extreme hardness
on impact. Credit: Pablo Axpe
www.d3O.com
Hemp fiber-filled plasticised PVC which can be used
in injection, intrusion and calendering processes,
made of approximately 30% hemp fibre combined
with other recyclable substances.
www.plasticana.com
Aerogels are the lightest solid materials known
to man, as most of their structure is hollow.
Their extraordinary porosity gives them a large
surface area, which provides them with unique
characteristics among solid materials.
Their density oscillates between 0.4 g/cm3
and
0.004 g/cm3
(only three times the density of air).
This is because of their high porosity: more than
95% of their volume is occupied by air, giving rise
to a high surface area.
These characteristics give them unique properties
in a solid material, like extremely low thermal
conductivity and sound velocity and high optical
transparency.
They are considered to be the best thermal
insulator, capable of withstanding temperatures
of -50°C and melting at a temperature in excess
of 1648°C. Recognized as the lightest solid in
the world, it has a touch like foam.
9
32. 32
Aluminium was seldom used at the start of the
last century as it was light, very soft, ductile and,
above all, not very resistant. However, in 1915
the industry attempted to open up markets with
commercially pure aluminum and several more
cast and wrought alloys. But it was not until the
appearance of the alloy known as duraluminum
that the aluminum industry began to expand.
Duraluminum underwent natural ageing at
ambient temperature that produced a
considerable increase in mechanical strength.
This alloy was the basis for the construction of
planes and airships. From that time onwards
the use of aluminum and its alloys has steadily
grown and it is used in a variety of fields such as
aeronautics, automotive, chemical industries,
etc, with light alloys being the most widely used.
Titanium is a light metal (4.5 g/cm3
) with a low
elastic modulus: E = 116 GPa, but a normal specific
modulus. Its high melting temperature gives it
good performance at high temperatures but it has
low mechanical resistance which can be improved
by adding alloy elements. It reacts easily with
oxygen to spontaneously form passive titanium
oxide. This oxide coating is more protective and
adherent against corrosion and oxidation than that
formed by aluminum.
plastics are: they have low densities, they are
non-abrasive, easily recyclable, biodegradable
with a low energy consumption and low cost.
3.1.9 Light Alloys
The industry is constantly searching for light,
strong materials that can be used in the
automotive industry to improve efficiency in fuel
consumption that can be used in a large number of
consumer goods in the sports and leisure industry
and, of course, in consumer electronics, in order
to improve the user’s energy consumption.
Its objective is to develop structural materials
with high specific strength, which is the resistance
or strength of a material divided by its density.
The following non-ferrous metals are included
in the group of lightweight metals:
- Aluminium
- Titanium
- Magnesium
- Beryllium.
Alcore’s commercial grade aluminium honeycomb
core widely used in the aeronautics industry.
Credit: Pablo Axpe
33. A surgical titanium mesh system is designed to restore
biomechanical integrity throughout the thoracic and lumbar spine
following vertebrectomy or corpectomy for patients with spine
tumors or fractures.
33
A Cleveland 797 Golf Club uses
a beryllium nickel wedge.
www.clevelandgolf.com
It is an expensive metal in regard to extraction
and refining and it is also a metal derived from
interstitial elements such as hydrogen oxygen,
which also hinders its heat processability. These
interstitial elements, particularly hydrogen, render
titanium more fragile. It is bio-compatibile with
tissue and bone and is used in the manufacture of
bone and dental prosthesis and stents. The alloys
made by adding nickel to titanium in certain
proportions has shape memory properties.
Ideal uses are:
• Applications where titanium is used for its high
resistance to corrosion, such as chemical
processing, the paper industry, marine
applications and the production and storage
of energy.
• Biomedical applications that take advantage of
the fact that titanium is inert inside the human
body, and is thus used in the manufacture of
surgical implants and prosthetic devices.
• Special applications that exploit specific
properties such as superconductivity (alloyed
with niobium) and shape memory effect
(alloyed with nickel).
• Areas of new application where the metal’s
high specific resistance is important, as for
example in the automotive industry and
consumer applications, from cameras to
jewelry, musical instruments or sports
equipment.
Magnesium is the lightest of the structural metals
(1.7 g/cm3
), quarter the weight of steel and one
third lighter than aluminum. It has a low modulus
of E = 44.7 GPa, but a normal specific modulus.
Its crystalline structure is compactly hexagonal.
Its alloys can harden through solid solution,
through precipitation and/or grain refining.
It offers good machinability properties but is
highly inflammable. The alloys are weldable
(inert gas) It has high muffling capacity.
Energy absorption and resistance to corrosion
are poor and thus it normally requires chroming
or anodizing treatments or coating in epoxy resin.
Thus it is used as a sacrificial anode like in large
steel merchant ships where magnesium blocks are
installed to rust and thus prevent the steel from
rusting. It absorbs a great deal of energy at high
impact velocities, so it is used in high-requirement
parts in the automotive industry, for example.
It is used in electronic devices for its low weight
and impermeability to electromagnetic waves.
Beryllium is the lightest of the metals considered
lightweight (1.8 g/cm3
). Pure beryllium is ductile
and malleable, rust-proof and has good
formability, but when alloyed with silicon, copper
or iron it turns hard and fragile. Its high melting
temperature (1280°C), higher than that of
magnesium and aluminum, together with its
excellent elastic modulus, makes it a metal with
one of the best specific properties (properties
by mass unit). Its use is highly limited due to its
scarcity, high cost and extreme toxicity. Some
of its few applications are as pure metal in X-ray
windows and as moderator in nuclear reactor
cores.
It is mainly alloyed with Cu, Co, Ni and Fe to give
rise to applications in parts for supersonic aircraft
and X-ray tubes among others. These alloys are
highly resistant to heat, have good resistance to
corrosion and are resistant to magnetic fields.
34. 34
aspects of materials clearly dominate discussions
of materiality and while these discussions may
be rich, useful and inspirational, they are limited
in the coverage of the topic in light of its potential.
The disciplines of material sciences and
engineering can add to this discussion – not to
overtake or subsume in the specter of determinism
or reductive analysis but by strategically
contributing facts, data, sets of values, that may
lead to an inventive idea.5
The words material and materiality carry
ambivalent meanings in vernacular English.
On the one hand, material is defined as ‘things
that are material’, which emphasizes the physical
aspect of things; on the other hand, it means
(in various non-physical applications) something
which can be worked up or elaborated, or
of which anything is composed.6
The distinction between them is not a search for
the reality of the material nor the materiality of the
real. It is rather the underlying constraints whose
material, technological, and procedural potentials
have been dismissed by interpretational
conventions.
During the course of this research many designers,
material experts (often architects and designers
with a keen interest in materials) were interviewed
and they consistently refer to materiality when
describing materials. In the course of discerning
the two beyond their suggestive names, what
emerged was a nagging reality. In a determined
pursuit to adopt high technology into design for
innovation, the inherent physical and reactive
material properties have been adapted into
design vocabulary in very tactile, sensory ways by
the creatives. Shear simplification does not make
high technology more palatable, rather the low
resolution of the data makes it almost impossible
for designers to develop a natural, intuitive
approach to work with materials.
3.2 Materials and Materiality
The materials world has been historically
dominated by the scientists who discovered them,
engineers who figured out what to do with them
and technologists who figured how to achieve
that. Designers have always used materials but
almost always, independant of the scientific
world. Hence the values attributed to materials
as nature, physical properties and interaction are
ofcourse described very differently. And designers
and sociologists who study their handling and
application refer to the materiality of materials.
It was Marx who took up the binary opposition
of material and content, and yet subverted the
significance of the two concepts; material came
to embrace extended meanings charged not just
with an element of a physical object but also with
an irreducible component of what shapes the
phenomenal world.2
With criticisms from various fields on the strictest
definition of material in Marx’s vocabulary, the
second half of the twentieth century saw an inter-
esting amalgamation of the very Marxist notion
of material and the Heideggerian reception of the
material and things: material that is immaterial3
.
This double-edged meaning can be best arti-
culated by the word materiality. Materiality
is defined currently as that which constitutes
the matter of something: opposed to formality;
the quality of being material; material aspect or
character; mere outwardness or externality4
.
The notions that seem to constitute the materiality
of an entity are often limited to the narrow goal
of a heightened sensibility towards the use of
materials within an architectural (design) context,
that is, the applied, material qualities of a thing.
Implicit in the general character of the word is
the fact that a significant swath of contemporary
designers are not able to discuss a material in
terms that extend beyond the general and
immediate sensory-oriented. The haptic and visual
2
Karl Marx, [1867] 1974.
3
http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/immediacy.htm Accessed on 21st May 2013.
4
Oxford English Dictionary.
5
Fernandes, John. Material Architecture – Emergent Materials for Innovative Buildings and Ecological Construction, Taylor & Francis, 2006.
6
JeeHee Hong, The University of Chicago, Theories of Media, Keywords Glossary, 2003.
35. 35
3.3 Materials and a Design process
man made, scientifically engineered materials
from polymers to nano fibers, high performance
ceramics to active elements.
How is a designer to keep abreast the latest
developments in material science and develop
a working familiarity to a whole generation of
unfamiliar inventions?
It is understandable that, given the explosion
of new materials, many designers have resorted
to the synthesis of a qualitative language when
discussing contemporary materials. The use of the
word ‘materiality’ is now common among
educators and practitioners despite its indefinite
meeting. The intellectual energy consumed in
the discourse of materiality has been substantial
and yet the very utility of the notion can be easily
questioned, founded as it is in shifting definitions
and ideological import.
Design is a rather contemporary description for
a dynamic process of problem solving creating
a physical manifestation of the solution.
The relationship between form (material and
construction) and function (immaterial and
conceptual) is always negotiated to achieve
an optimal balance and harmony in design. The
former has been dominant in the earlier formative
era of design as a recognised practice. The shifting
dynamics in this relationship is crucial as not one
emerges as the dominant case, instead a chaotic
back and forth, iterative process alone can build
an argument to creating a product. Form and
function always work in the framework of
simplicity and complexity
To be a designer today means having a really broad
range of material choices – from the traditional and
natural, well explored wood, stone, metal, glass
and linear materials to an ever growing base of
Materials
as last in the
design process
FORM
Materials
in the
design process
IMPACT
Materials as
inspiration
CONTEXT
DESIGN PROCESS
1. CLASSICAL APPROACH
2. DESIGN THINKING
3. INNOVATION
Inspiration Concept Viability
Feasibility
Function
Aesthetics Form+Function Product
Need Concept
Inspiration
Function Viability
Feasibility
Aesthetics Product
Invention
Traditional
product
Need for
performance
Concept Function Aesthetics Product
informs
Design is the human capacity to shape and make our environments
in ways that satisfy our needs and give meaning to our lives.
John Heskett
Fig 1: Materials in a design process
36. 36
The skin is the principal vehicle
for the expression of the
individuality of the person,
more important in this way
than is the face, connecting
to issues of identity in
modern society:
the place of mental life,
of thinking and phantasies,
the place of the body, of pleasure
and pain,... issues of time and
space in relation to the physical
existence, of death and decay.
Lucian Freud, De Clerck (2011)
37. 37
One of the first in this long legacy was PVC.
As a material innovation, PVC was born in three
different labs, almost over a span of 100 years.
If not for BFGoodRich that hired Waldo Semon to
develop a synthetic replacement to natural rubber
for its tires, PVC would not have come out of the
lab flasks; it had been earlier discovered in, first
in 1838, subsequently in 1872 and then in 1913.
Yet again, it was a radical repurposing of PVC
(initially intended for tyres, Semon proposed
it as a water repellant coating in the wake of the
Great Depression, creating a new market almost
overnight. In the following decades many more
producers of PVC arose, commercialising and
eventually commoditising the material like never
before.9
This is a very interesting piece of history for us
to reflect on the state of the sector today.
Collaborative research is key to be able to build on
top of each others work and to help technologies
gain more acceptance faster. Mature technologies
alone can survive market demands and be sourced
for a wide range of applications. It is essential
that technologies reach their full potential of
commercialisation for all stakeholders to feel
involved for continued research and development.
Sometimes however, with time, it is hard to thwart
the commoditisation of an advanced technology,
by the sheer force of adoption and use.
Chemical inventiveness that was seen as an
industry constraint has now come to be more
accepted, beginning a new era of innovating with
a known repertoire of materials, stretching their
physical capabilities and contextual use rather
than constantly pushing their chemical prowess.
Known materials can be easily chosen for their
(known) properties and optimized or even
‘designed’ to suit the needs of the problem.
The typical problems of availability of the material,
fabrication setup capable of handling the materials
to scale products both in size and scale can
be avoided as using existing infrastructure
considerably reduces to-market development
times, development costs and thus big risks.
The advanced materials sector is global and
is a key enabling technology of the future that
can bring significant economic growth and
employment opportunities. Europe has traditional
strengths in advanced materials which should
be nurtured and structured on a European wide
scale.7
Advanced materials are essential to economic
security and human well-being, with applications
in multiple industries, including those aimed at
addressing challenges in clean energy, national
security, and human welfare. Accelerating the
pace of discovery and deployment of advanced
material systems will therefore be crucial to
achieving global competitiveness in the 21st
century.8
The limitations offered by matter into being
combined or altered into different compositions
creates a limit on the infinity of material
compositions. This poses a big dilemma to any
player in the material industry as innovation of
new material composites was a key driver for
differentiation.
The incidence of new developments can never
meet their historical rates. This was seen as
a big industry limitation as it steadily reduced
the momentum of the big players in inventing
and commercializing new core materials.
This has had a relay effect in how R&D
departments are now structured in companies
and how research is conducted. Often the lack
of a clear market need has derailed or stalled
many research projects and the imminent need
for commoditisation of materials has meant that
companies need to be far more cost effective.
The emphasis was clearly on commercialisation
in a scene of globalisation.
Through a large part of this century the focus
has repeatedly been on developing synthetic
materials that have performance capabilities
that are far superior to their natural counterparts;
constantly finding man-made substitutes for
natural materials.
7
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/stoa/webdav/site/cms/shared/2_events/workshops/2013/20130410/P.%20Rigby.pdf
8
Insight from The Materials Genome Initiative, The White House, 2011
9
http://www.pvc.org/en/p/history Accessed July 2013.
The European
Advanced Materials Sector4
38. 38
4.1.1 Raw Materials and Suppliers
Suppliers are at the source of the advanced
materials value chain. They could supply raw
materials, mined, if its a natural source, such as
Titanium dioxide or synthesized in a factory or
combined into various composites and processed
into forms such as pellets, powders, sheets,
extruded tubes etc.
It is important to note that for the advanced metals
and advanced ceramics sectors, availability of raw
materials is a challenge. Even more recently this
has been put higher on the agenda since China
has imposed restrictions on trading in rare earth
metals, but also other groups in the Mendeleev
table are vulnerable. A multi pronged approach is
therefore needed by Europe if we are to mitigate
a basic concern of raw material availability.10
The materials industry includes companies whose
sales originate from the mining, acquisition and
sale of physical substances for manufacturing-
related purposes. The materials industry tends to
be sensitive to economic cycles. Material stocks
quickly increase at the conclusion of a recession,
because materials are the primary input for the
industrial sector. Given that almost everything
on the planet is made from some kind of material,
this sector is very vast.
Advanced materials are so strongly integrated in
and defined by the applications they are serving
that the value chain analysis is unavoidable.
Advanced materials can have their source in a
naturally available ingredient whose properties
can be enhanced and morphed to make them
have a supernatural performance. They could also
be synthetically engineered in a scientific way to
have specific properties, of course derived from
their component elements. In both cases the
properties of the material are crucial and are
deliberately required by the stakeholders later
in the value chain of the product. They could be
needed by manufacturers to be able to process
them in a certain method or by fabricators to be
able to form and mould the materials into a usable
product and by engineers and designers to fulfill
very important needs for structure, self and the
society. Thus understanding who the different
stakeholders are, what their expectations are and
how they work with advanced materials is very
important to help foster a symbiotic ecosystem
for them.
4.1 Identifying key stakeholders
10
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/ict/files/kets/2_hlg-materials-report_en.pdf
Molycorp Mountain Pass, California. Molycorp is the only US company
that produces the rare earth metals used in devices ranging from wind
turbines and electric vehicles to missile-guidance systems and compact
fluorescent lightbulbs.
Source: www.ifixit.org
39. 39
Many of the thermoplastics and new material
inventions of the last century have achieved great
commercial success almost to the point of having
commodity status in many of the composite forms.
Although, they still have enough value to address
unmet needs with functional solutions, new
strategies will be needed. As discussed earlier,
the scientific limitations of chemical compositions
does not mean there is no more innovation in
the manufacturing sector, rather it is being done
in very different ways.
Manufacturers are also often the largest
stakeholders in terms of operation scale which is
important for international product distribution
and presence but can be deterring for smaller
value adding stakeholders later in the value chain.
Like for many in the creative industry who might
want to really work with a material from a large
manufacturer to design solutions, this might be
daunting to source materials and eventually
demonstrate their commercial relevance.
In a bigger industry trend, traditional material
manufacturing companies are striving hard to
create value for the materials they make by
investing in their creative use and application in
solutions. They now see innovation as creative
solutions rather than just pioneering scientific
research.
If designers were to work with manufacturers of
material composites it can launch new ideas and
applications. But it is not easy to commercialise
this proposition from a designers perspective.
Aart van Bezooyen, a Dutch product designer
who is based in Hamburg thinks this is the
most potential space to work in at the moment.
For example, he takes advanced materials
from manufacturers and facilitate workshops
as school projects and in research labs. Thus a
lot of new ideas are generated which could then
be mutually used by the material suppliers and
Bezooyen (the designer). The exercise does not
expect any one idea to excel commercially but
helps personify larger trends for manufacturers.
Another effort to bring materials into ubiquitous
use is marketing efforts from large manufacturers.
Their sales representatives travel widely meeting
designers, architects and other creative
implementing agencies and create knowledge
about the new material they are selling and
encourage them to try it by offering samples,
incentives on use and networking them with
fabricators who have the facilities to process
the material into products.
The discovery and development of material
and technology substitutes that deliver the same
functionality but replace critical minerals, like
the rare earth elements, with those that are more
earth-abundant is one strategy that would reduce
the growing dependence on any mineral resource,
domestic or foreign, that are unstable or subject
to supply disruptions.
New infrastructure needs to be created that can
assist researchers and engineers to rapidly discover
and develop substitutes for materials, technologies
and applications that are currently dependent on
critical minerals. This will make materials more
easily, widely and readily available for experimen-
tation and use. Lead times for availability of
materials and minimum order quantities required
often pose a huge barrier to research and
development. Synthetic options will drive costs
down making the use of advanced materials easier
and sustainable replacements will last longer in
the value chain supporting a circular economy.
Suppliers are looking for new applications and
designers are looking for new materials. These
are two sides of the problem. But these two actors
dont seem to interact at a profitable or progressive
level yet.
Material suppliers often fail to explain the
potential of the application. And this is clearly
seen in many material fairs.
Aart van Bezooyen, Material Stories
4.1.2 Manufacturers
When synthesising basic raw materials into usable
forms, there is a degree of manufacturing involved
and hence suppliers may also play the role of
manufacturers in the value chain. Some suppliers
are also manufacturers and process the raw
materials into various composites. They understand
the effect manufacturing processes have upon
material performance. An optimized manufacturing
process requires a comprehensive understanding
of the interrelationship between material properties
and the manufacturing process to lend tailored
properties, productivity and economic robustness.
Manufacturers are at the helm of the innovation
bridge between materials and designers. But they
are also probably facing the innovation challenge
the most.
40. 40
Moving a project like Kevlar from its initial
laboratory discovery to commercial manufacture
is an often tortuous process in which there is a
constant dialectic between scientific and technical
reality (as well as expectation) and market
expectations (as well as realities). Often, marketing
considerations tend to mediate the process, but
at DuPont scientific and technical concerns have
the upperhand. With Kevlar®
, as with Delrin®
,
the amazing properties of the new material led
managers and executives alike to place more stock
in the obvious superiority of the product than in
the nagging question of whether there was a real
market sufficiently big to sustain such a wonder
material at considerations, industrial research and
development projects can develop momentum
fully comparable to the momentum built up in
the projects typically labelled Big science.13
Christensen describes DuPont’s efforts to build
commercial markets for its miracle fiber, Kevlar®
.
Initially, it sought to create a market for Kevlar®
tire cord, primarily because its existing tire cord
business was languishing. This market never
developed, even after DuPont spent several
hundred million dollars.14
Research Labs can exist in many scales
(Big Science, Small Science), in different faculties
(nanotechnology, or sector specific etc.) and
can be a part of different organisational formats
(university, large privately held manufacturing
companies, industry consortiums etc.) and
funding landscapes (private, public-private
partnerships, government supported, multi-
government consortiums). They account for
the largest knowledge generation quantifiable
by the number of registered patents in each
sector, in each country.
When it comes to innovative technologies, global
corporations and high-tech enterprises may be at
the forefront of public attention. But away from the
spotlight, universities and research institutes are
quietly leading the way in many technical fields.
Some examples of leading research institutes
are discussed here to understand their research
commitments, funding and partnership models
and their knowledge creation worth.
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany is
one of the world’s major international research
organizations. An undertaking of this size and
significance needs a decentralized organizational
structure which nevertheless incorporates line
functions that allow it to develop an efficient
strategic orientation on the basis of centralized
control mechanisms.
A good example is DuPont that through its intense
network of sales agents creates awareness of its
products. Corian®
is widely sold by these sales
agents who meet architects and designers who
undertake turnkey projects. They have also trained
and certified fabricators to work with Corian®
(or similar product offerings) and facilitate the
networking between the two stakeholders based
on proximity, volume of production and other such
specific requirements.
The certification of fabricators from the
manufacturer’s end to work with specific materials
creates a bureaucracy of choice between very
similar materials produced by two different
manufacturers.
4.1.3 Research Centers
Fundamental research has had a good deal of focus
from the chemicals industry. One of the earliest
stories of Big Science in advanced materials was
the long time and resource investments of DuPont
in the development of nylon. It set a larger trend
in chemical companies setting aside massive
budgets for scientific progress, often helped by
national governments or groups of governments
directed towards fundamental research and
commercialising it. The success story of nylon has
been hard to replicate. It is an advanced material
no doubt but the sheer ubiquitousness of it has
meant that it has been so widely commoditised
that it has lost the monetary value of being an
advanced material. So much, that even DuPont
has found it hard to replicate the success story
of nylon in its later initiatives like Kevlar®
.
11
On the history of Kevlar, see Hounshell, Making of a new Industrial Fiber.
12
The New York Times, Feb 19, 1989, pegged the telescope’s cost at 1.4billion USD.
13
Galison, Peter, Big Science, The Growth of Large Scale Research, Ed. Peter Galison, Bruce Hevly, 1992, Pg 258.
14
Christensen, Clayton M. Du Pont Kevlar Aramid Industrial Fiber (Abridged). Harvard Business School Case 698-079, May 1998.
Designer is a catalyst for change in a research lab.
Design can be packaged as a service and then
become more strategic when they can work as
a partner.
Jack Mama, Creative Director Visioning & Probing,
Electrolux Group Design
Through 1982, when the company started up a
commercial-scale plant, DuPont had spent more
than 500 million USD on Kevlar®
aramid fiber
without any single market guaranteeing success
of the venture.11
This is roughly comparable
to getting the Space Telescope made but not
launched into orbit.12
41. 41
I want to build a billion tiny
factories, models of each other,
which are manufacturing
simultaneously. . .
The principles of physics,
as far as I can see, do not
speak against the possibility
of maneuvering things atom
by atom. It is not an attempt
to violate any laws;
it is something, in principle,
that can be done; but in
practice, it has not been done
because we are too big.
Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize winner in Physics, 1965
42. 42
The Max Planck Society, Germany is a non-profit
organization under private law in the form of
a registered association. There are 82 institutes
and research facilities (as of January 1, 2013),
5 institutes and one research facility are situated
abroad. The current 82 Max Planck Institutes
conduct basic research in the service of the
general public in natural sciences, life sciences,
social sciences, and humanities.
Max Planck Institutes focus on research fields
that are especially demanding in terms of funding
or time requirements. And their research spectrum
is continually evolving: new institutes are
established to find answers to seminal, forward-
looking scientific questions, while others are
closed when, for example, their research field
has been widely established at universities.
This continuous renewal preserves the scope
the Max Planck Society needs to react quickly
to pioneering scientific developments.
Max Planck Innovation brings patents and
technologies to the market and assists founders in
setting up new companies based on the research
results of the Max Planck Society. Since 1979,
the technology transfer company has assisted
with more than 3,000 inventions and closed over
1,700 license deals. In the past 20 years, it has
advised 86 spin-offs and generated revenues of
around EUR 200 million for inventors, institutes
and the Max Planck Society. The Max Planck
Society has recently begun expanding its
cooperation projects with the Fraunhofer Society
in certain fields, such as computer science,
materials science, nano- and biotechnology, and
regenerative energies, and explicitly promotes
projects at the interface between applied and
basic research.
The National Center for Scientific Research
(Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique,
CNRS), France is a public organization under the
responsibility of the French Ministry of Higher
Education and Research. It consists of 10 institutes,
3 of which have the status of national institutes,
19 regional offices, ensuring decentralized direct
management of laboratories and 1,029 research
units (96% are joint research laboratories with
universities and industry). With 4,521 main
patents and 959 licenses and other financially
remunerating active acts and 704 companies
created with CNRS since 2000, it is the largest
fundamental research organization in Europe,
carrying out research in all fields of knowledge.17
The Danish Technical Institute (DTU), Denmark
is ranked as one of the foremost technical
universities in Europe, with record number of
publications, partnerships with industry, and
assignments accomplished by DTU’s public sector
It is one of the most active and important sources
of patent applications in Germany. In 2012, its
research institutions reported a total of 696
inventions, with patent applications being filed
for 499 of those, i.e. over 70 percent. Fraunhofer
files an average of two patent applications per
working day. Their portfolio of active rights
(patents and utility models) and patent applications
had risen to a total of 6,103 at year end 2012.
It currently includes some 2,800 patents granted
for the German market. The number of exploitation
contracts concluded increased from 2,841 in
2011 to 3,167 in 2012. At present, the Fraunhofer-
Gesellschaft maintains 66 institutes and inde-
pendent research units. The majority of more than
22,000 staff are qualified scientists and engineers
with a €1.9 billion annual research budget. Of this
sum, €1.6 billion is generated through contract
research. More than 70 percent of the Fraunhofer-
Gesellschaft’s contract research revenue is derived
from contracts with industry and from publicly
financed research projects. Almost 30 percent is
contributed by the German federal and Länder
governments in the form of base funding.15
www.fraunhofer.de
The modern Cambridge Cluster in the UK began
in 1960 with the foundation of Cambridge
Consultants. However, with the establishment
of Cambridge Science Park by Trinity College in
1970, the cluster began to grow rapidly. 39 new
companies were formed between 1960 and 1969.
In the 1970s, 137 were formed. By 1990, company
formations had reached an average of two per
week. Today, Cambridge is Europe’s largest
technology cluster. Around 54,000 people are
employed by more than 1,500 technology-based
firms in the area, which have combined annual
revenue of over £12 billion. The University is a
major employer, technology provider, and
a source of knowledge and skills in the region.
including St John’s Innovation Centre, Peterhouse
Technology Park and the IdeaSpace Enterprise
Accelerator.
University people and ideas are at the heart of
many of the companies in the cluster, whether
the company is based on University research
(spin-out), or founded by a member of the
University (start-up). Cambridge Enterprise,
the University’s commercialisation arm, manages
three evergreen seed funds on the University’s
behalf, which enables alumni and friends of the
University to support Cambridge spin-outs
while benefitting from generous tax incentives.
Licensing is a key area of activity for Cambridge
Enterprise, with about 50 new commercial
agreements closed annually and a portfolio
of over 450 active licence agreements.16
15
http://www.fraunhofer.de/en/about-fraunhofer/facts-and-figures/patents-licenses.html Accessed on 17th September 2013.
16
http://www.cam.ac.uk As accessed on 17th September 2013.
17
http://www.cnrs.fr/en/aboutCNRS/overview.htm Accessed on 17th September 2013.
